Crain’s Headlines: United Buys Flight School to Tackle Pilot Shortage

United Airlines is taking an unusual step to deal with a worsening shortage of pilots: It’s buying a flight school.

The Chicago-based airline says it’s purchasing Westwind School of Aeronautics in Phoenix to tackle a talent pipeline problem that it will face for at least a decade, as boomer-age pilots retire en masse. United expects to have to hire 10,000 pilots by 2029.